A 40-year-old French inventor named Franky Zapata successfully flew a hoverboard that he developed across the English Channel, taking off in France and landing in England.
Zapata has been messing around with different hoverboard designs for years.
Before this version, his original Flyboard used a high-pressure water jet from a lake, pond or ocean to stay in the air.
But this one -- the Flyboard Air -- runs on kerosene and doesn’t need to be tethered to the water.
Zapata admits that the trip across the channel wasn’t easy. Because the board was attached to his feet, his body had to resist the wind, which was painful -- but worth it, of course, because he did something no one before him has ever done. (The Guardian)